Thursday, February 07, 2008

An Alanis kind of irony.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

it says something about cultural imperialism that NONE of these things exist where I live and I still got the joke.

Levi Stahl said...

This may be your most brilliant yet. Well done.

dsbowers said...

Last commenter beat me to it, but this is so brilliant and yet so obvious. Pure genius.

Jessica O'Brien said...

my favorite yet :)

Jen said...

Now I get it...

Unknown said...

that just made my jaw drop.

brilliant.

thanks.

Anonymous said...

Confused Canadian says:

Republican / Walmart
Democrat / Target

Is this it for some reason?

Anonymous said...

Yea, this makes no sense. It's either misinformed or, more likely, since the artist is a complete liberal, stupid political slander against the republican party. Brillant indeed. Kindly leave the internet now, it doesn't need anymore of you. I know plenty of democrats who shop at wal-mart (more than republicans) and many republicans who shop at target (such as myself).

Anonymous said...

11:55 PM,

You can pick up a sense of humor at either store. Please get one immediately.

Anonymous said...

Wow.

Anonymous said...

It's true - lots of Republicans shop at Target and lots of Democrats shop at Wal-Mart (especially true by me).

That said, Wal-Marts are more prevalent in Red states - it's not just a stereotype, it's their business strategy. They open fewer but giant Wal-Marts with a low population density knowing that people will drive to them anyway because of the huge selection.

Targets have a more conventional business model, and you'll find them in denser areas; denser areas are typically (but not always, obviously) blue states.

Anonymous said...

>>You can pick up a sense of humor at either store. Please get one immediately.

Touche'.

Anonymous said...

the difference is, the walmart sense of humor finds larry the cable guy funny (or anyone on the blue collar comedy tour)

The Target humor prefers Jon Stewart, Jim Gaffigan or the late Mitch Hedberg.

Chaz said...

Maybe this is just me, but I hate all of the above instances of red AND blue.

Suppose that's why I'm not gonna vote this time 'round. They tell me I ought to, but honestly, if you can't back a candidate -- you shouldn't cast a vote.

Anonymous said...

Geez, you guys, it's not about who shops there, it's the advertising. I mean, Walmart is all like "look at our small town, family moral values! Our censored music section! Our Arkansas roots!" It's the kind of stuff Republicans use in their campaigns. Target is total "high-art"
"po-mo" surrealism geared towards people who ironically call it "tar-jay," Which is the same people that email the Will.i.am "Yes we can" song to every one they know. It's not a matter of who shops where, but who's trying to get who's butt in their stores.

Anonymous said...

In addition to what smrt said, Target is from Minnesota (a blue state) and Wal-Mart is from Arkansas (a red state)...

Anonymous said...

wow, I thought this was funny and I got a laugh out of it until you guys started breaking it down...

Robocats said...

Blue/Read doesn't have to mean democrat/republican. Gee, I'm so sorry that the post offended that Anonymous Jackhole's (11:55 pm) sensibilities. He was so much more tactful when he called it stupid and slanderous (clearly without knowing that slander is spoken word that unjustly damages ones reputation without cause, different in EVERY RUDDY WAY IMAGINABLE from this post).

"Blue bloods"......

Brandie said...

I think I like it even more now that people got their panties in a twist.

Absolutely brilliant!!

Anonymous said...

Y'know, I'm voting for Obama, and the person in this thread with whom I most agree -- including the original poster -- is whichever anonymous it was who pointed out that lots of Republicans shop at Target and lots of Democrats shop at Wal-Mart.

Being among the latter category myself, I can't say I'm hugely impressed, not least because I already have a standing problem with so-called progressives who utterly refuse to recognize the vast degree of class difference in this country -- I've noticed that they tend to refuse to recognize it to exactly the extent that their own unacknowledged class privilege permits.

And, anyway, there never was a red-state/blue-state joke that wasn't utterly stupid. Telling them is a great way to make yourself look like a smug asshole, especially if somebody happens to be lurking around who agrees with many of your political views but who, otherwise, might as well be a red-state joke -- drawl, loose teeth, and all.

And these self-satisfied assholes have the awe-inspiring temerity, the unmitigated gall, to wonder why no one from, say, Mississippi likes them?

What's to like about someone whose spectrum of interaction with you includes nothing but grating, self-gratifying pity, insulting "jokes" (which are nonetheless more honest than the pity), and waving you around like some kind of damn flag, hollering oh won't somebody please think of the gap-toothed lice-riddled inbred morons, they're too stupid to do it themselves?

And if I can say all this from both my online interaction and my real life, and I'm a Mississippi boy grown up and moved to Baltimore, a Mississippi boy who grew up shopping at Wal-Mart and still does, and who's voting Obama -- then what in the hell do you expect out of the people among whom I grew up?

I said earlier I agreed with that particular anonymous. That's not entirely true; there are things to which I take exception. For example:

It's either misinformed or, more likely, since the artist is a complete liberal, stupid political slander against the republican party.

I agree in part, but not in whole. I do think it's misinformed, in the way that liberal- and progressive-type people very often tend to be. However, I also think it's a stupid political slander -- not against the Republican party, but against the people who vote for it.

You know, the same people who liberals keep telling are voting against their own interests -- when liberals aren't telling them, and everybody else, how stupid and backwards and horrible they are.

Well done!

-- Aaron (aaron@acephalo.us)

Rebecca said...

It turns out, Targets labor practices are as bad as Wal-Mart's. All those "blue" shoppers are on the wrong track.

Anonymous said...

Now we need to decide what's funnier:

This comic

-or-

the nimrods getting offended by a picture on the internet

Scot Colford said...

This is the kind of thing that makes a guy go, "Crap, I should have thought of that." In other words, a stroke of genius. Well done.

Greg K Nicholson said...

boom, you don't have shoppers, logos or colours where you live? Wow.

Mind, I guess a logo has to be pretty good to get by without colour; and without logos, how would one find a shop?

Anonymous said...

I guess I get the joke here and I can understand everyone thinking this is a bit funny. I just don't get all of the "genius" and "brilliant" comments though.

The Walmart/Target stereotypes, along with Dem/Rep stereotypes are funny for about a second and then they're just lame. We should all know by now that it's not that black and white.

Anonymous said...

What is any kind of joke but a generalization?

Personally, I enjoyed the title of the comic. I mean, it's not my favorite (because you have the capacity to make me think profoundly, instead of giggle and move on to raising my eyebrows at commenters) but still. No need to get upset.

Anonymous said...

Ah, I only realised it was a political thing after reading the comments. (I'm from Australia). However, if you don't want it to be a political thing, here's an alternative take on it...

Shoppers at Target are "blue" meaning sad, depressed, because they can't find what they want.

Shoppers at Walmart are going "red" (meaning angry) because of the bad service.

Anonymous said...

An additional meaning could be shoppers wearing blue (i.e. from walmart) shop at target, and vice versa, especially because most low-wage employees (and both are, speaking as a former employee of BOTH stores) don't like to hang out at their place of employment afterhours

Anonymous said...

I laughed out loud. Wonderfully wonderful.

Anonymous said...

All, the cartoon was creative, and it made me laugh. What can be lamer than taking the time to post one's righteous indignation over a CARTOON on the INTERNET? Certainly there's no cartoon anywhere lamer than that!

Calm down, take a deep breath, and move on.

Anonymous said...

I shop at both... I guess I'm purple.

Anonymous said...

Your blog seems to be very interesting. Personally I like Walmart. I may find everything I need there. Much about Walmart one can find on www.pissedconsumer.com. Especially consumer reports on the quality of goods and services. The store is wonderful but the customer service is awful. And the problem can not be fixed in any way. No one listens to the voice of the consumers.

Anonymous said...

im so glad that only one or two people really slammed the person drawing these and everyone else has rightfully told them to back off.

 
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